Are Thai people racist? They keeping calling me "Farang"!

[transam]

If my memory serves me well,this must be at least the third time this Topic Title has resurfaced since the start of this year! If you can get this over as quickly as possible,we might be able to squeeze in another same Topic by Christmas,should fit in nicely with the Xmas tree,and imported Turkey!

PS you are only a Farang if you don't mind Racialism and Labels.

Majic, you can do the keyboard work but I think your wrong, surely more than 3 times this year ?

As a Korean friend said to me, you have it easy, I'm always the "khohn yipun" (Japanese Person)..... maybe we should be glad of this collective term, could be a lot worse if Thai's decided we were American instead of Canadian, English instead of Irish etc.

Your right, I hate being called British when in fact I an English.

[Stradavarius37]

And as I sit drinking my Cheers beer, the parade of TV folks commenting on this thread has kept me entertained for hours.... keep them coming folks!

[mca]

To be honest the majority of people who've called me "farang" within my earshot ( as in talking about me rather than referring to me in general like to girl in 7-11 who tells her friend that the grub in the microwave is for the farang) don't seem to be the brightest tools in the box therefore their actions or opinions matter not one iota to me. If you're expecting any different from such people you may as well try teach your dog to open the tin of dog food and feed himself when you go on holiday.

It's when I read posters who say that their Thai family members refer to them as the "farang"

As the saying goes "F*** that for a game of soldiers"

[ToddWeston]

And as I sit drinking my Cheers beer, the parade of TV folks commenting on this thread has kept me entertained for hours.... keep them coming folks!

Lol - next time say you're drinking a beer with a straw, it's all in the detail.

[Nodski]

The blah blah blah blah was probably them saying look at the farang - why isn't he home reading Thai Visa about bum guns and toilet paper.

At least the bum gun is amazingly useful. And all newbees to the LOS will need extra help getting familiar with it. Whereas being called farang is a useless topic to discuss.

[colomboserb]

Farang was first used against the persian traders in Thailand, its from Farsi language actaully. Honestly they use to call me farang aswell , but i blame them back in some thai/eng language (my own one) that they shuld not talk to much anyway to me ,cos my people who gave them buddism, and 80 % of there culture is from Sri Lanka, dances, epic, names, everything , the theravada flags.

I stick to my balls, usually they would really respect it , and they shuld...Anyhow as half sri lankan half serb i am looking like a south american basicly .or middle eat ..or north india, or half of the world that is what people put me on ...I experince 10 times more racism in asia than in Europe honestly Any neo-nazi in europe is much better than average Asian country . They only like white woman or half/asian woman, they look down to half/men , and call our mothers traitors. .

Really funny place

[Songhua]

And as I sit drinking my Cheers beer, the parade of TV folks commenting on this thread has kept me entertained for hours.... keep them coming folks!

I think I've cracked a rib.

[ChatterRat]

Realise that the OP is trolling with this one,
but could not resist as many TV members seem to agree with the OPs topic header
'Are Thai people racist?'
and in doing so they are attributing shared traits, indeed negative traits,
to the largest ethic group in Thailand. I'm sure there's a word for that.

[Wat dee]

Don't blame your father if your mother likes to play with the help!

Be grateful to your father being here instead of trimming hedges in LA.

You post explains your overly sensitive character...falang...so what!!

[lostmebike]

the time in university when my gf drew a <deleted>-manchu mustache on me in permanent marker when I was passed out drunk, and I had to walk around like that all semester with people thinking I was oriental...it was humiliating,

[HUAHIN62]

Are you a Thai OP, no, so you are a foreigner. When I come to visit your country I will enter through immigration as a foreigner not as a citizen of your country. Why do countries have Departments of FOREIGN affairs? When you are not a citizen of a country you are considered to be a foreigner. Take it this way how the h##@$ must Thais know where your are from to be able to say that Swede or Dane etc, most can hardly speak English. How must they know if you are a tourist or stay here to enable them to say look at that tourist. Until I gave Thai citizenship I am a foreigner and I am okay with that because life is too important to waste it on stupidity.

[PJcm]

My wife and I were shopping at the local Tesco, while sifting through the produce in a farang crowded store, my wife picked up a pumpkin in her hand held it out and said
" Honey you want a phuk" I turned smiled and replied, "no thank you I had one last night"

[Fullstop]

the time in university when my gf drew a <deleted>-manchu mustache on me in permanent marker when I was passed out drunk, and I had to walk around like that all semester with people thinking I was oriental.

A WHOLE semester? No showers? Not even a single face scrub? Bullsh*t. As is the rest of the post. Paranoid bullsh*t, that is.

[pacovl46]

Farang comes from the Thai word for France which is Prathet Falangse because the French were the first falangs Thais encountered because Laos and Cambodia were French colonies. The Thais use is for caucasian people. That's all there is to it. If you were Thai and someone would call you an Asian would you get upset about it?

[Fullstop]

the French were the first falangs Thais encountered

Rubbish

[spermwhale]

Yes they are racist. Farang is a racist term no matter how much Thais try to say it is not. It is plain and simple. Any word like this that is used to identify a certain ethnic group that is not part of "us" is racist. Imagine back in our homeland (whatever country it may be) and you are asian and you overhear the wait staff at restaurant say: "You take the table with the Asian at it."

Imagine walking down the street and people pointing at you and nudging their partner "hey, hey, look! An Asian."

How about clearing up a traffic ticket at the local cop shop and when you bring the ticket in to retrieve your driver's license, the cop looks at you and shakes is head and says "Oh you asian."

But I don't get mad at the Thais. They don't understand it is racist. I try to educate them in a joking manner. "Duu Duu Duu farang!! " I stop and point back and say "Du du du,,, Khon Thai."

[Cuban]

Once I was sitting on a songtaew and there were two old ladies sitting opposite me with a large basket of guava. One of the rude old crones kept saying " farang" this and "farang".....

I was in a very similar situation on one occasion but they were saying how much they enjoyed the liquid from the fruit it being good for their skin and all, well in my limited understanding of Thai spoken quickly I thought my misunderstanding was perfectly understandable, at least the police were most amused at the situation as I hurriedly did up my trousers and we all had a good laugh at the mix up.

[AYJAYDEE]

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Fullstop]

Imagine walking down the street and people pointing at you and nudging their partner "hey, hey, look! An Asian."

Like many before you ... you are confusing this situation when it happens "in Thailand". It's naivety and ignorance. Not racism.

But yes ... in "other" situations Thais can be racist. E.g .... when employing people.

[transam]

Yes they are racist. Farang is a racist term no matter how much Thais try to say it is not. It is plain and simple. Any word like this that is used to identify a certain ethnic group that is not part of "us" is racist. Imagine back in our homeland (whatever country it may be) and you are asian and you overhear the wait staff at restaurant say: "You take the table with the Asian at it."

Imagine walking down the street and people pointing at you and nudging their partner "hey, hey, look! An Asian."

How about clearing up a traffic ticket at the local cop shop and when you bring the ticket in to retrieve your driver's license, the cop looks at you and shakes is head and says "Oh you asian."

But I don't get mad at the Thais. They don't understand it is racist. I try to educate them in a joking manner. "Duu Duu Duu farang!! " I stop and point back and say "Du du du,,, Khon Thai."

Hmmmmmmmmmmm.

I had the honour of placing a wreath on Remembrance Day ceremony in respect for those westerners and others who fell in battle. The wreath was provided by our town. Do you know what was written in bold letters across the wreath ..........................

" FARANGS OF UBON RATCHATHANI"

What do you think of that ?

[cronus]

I started to call them ASIANS. Not thais, just ASIANS... I dont care where in asia they come from or if they are thais, they are just ASIANS for me... as we are all just FARANG's for them.

[h90]

Yes they are racist. Farang is a racist term no matter how much Thais try to say it is not. It is plain and simple. Any word like this that is used to identify a certain ethnic group that is not part of "us" is racist. Imagine back in our homeland (whatever country it may be) and you are asian and you overhear the wait staff at restaurant say: "You take the table with the Asian at it."

Imagine walking down the street and people pointing at you and nudging their partner "hey, hey, look! An Asian."

How about clearing up a traffic ticket at the local cop shop and when you bring the ticket in to retrieve your driver's license, the cop looks at you and shakes is head and says "Oh you asian."

But I don't get mad at the Thais. They don't understand it is racist. I try to educate them in a joking manner. "Duu Duu Duu farang!! " I stop and point back and say "Du du du,,, Khon Thai."

????

What is wrong with accepting that people do look different.

And of course the wait staff will tell to each other "bring the asian a beer" the same as they will say: "bring the red hair a beer" or the guy with the one arm only.

It is an optical difference, what is wrong to mention it?

racism would be if the restaurant writes "Jews/Farangs/Blacks not welcome"

or racism would be if Farangs pay more national park fee, than say tourists from Japan.

Without disadvantage there is no racism. That people find it exiting to see someone who looks different might be childish but it is not racism.

[mca]

Yes they are racist. Farang is a racist term no matter how much Thais try to say it is not. It is plain and simple. Any word like this that is used to identify a certain ethnic group that is not part of "us" is racist. Imagine back in our homeland (whatever country it may be) and you are asian and you overhear the wait staff at restaurant say: "You take the table with the Asian at it."

Imagine walking down the street and people pointing at you and nudging their partner "hey, hey, look! An Asian."

How about clearing up a traffic ticket at the local cop shop and when you bring the ticket in to retrieve your driver's license, the cop looks at you and shakes is head and says "Oh you asian."

But I don't get mad at the Thais. They don't understand it is racist. I try to educate them in a joking manner. "Duu Duu Duu farang!! " I stop and point back and say "Du du du,,, Khon Thai."

So if Thais are talking about farang food they're being racist?

[colomboserb]

Farang comes from the Thai word for France which is Prathet Falangse because the French were the first falangs Thais encountered because Laos and Cambodia were French colonies. The Thais use is for caucasian people. That's all there is to it. If you were Thai and someone would call you an Asian would you get upset about it?

It is generally believed that the word farang originated with the Persian word farangi,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farang

obviouse Thai history is older than the french pressence in Asia Please ...arabs and indians, persians have probl been in Thailand way before even "Thai people walked out of china" to become thai people

Basicly wide eyed people is created for cool climate , NOT HOT. So its obviosue these lands has resently been occupied ...last 2000 years.... of chinese orgin people ...that are now called THAI.

Most probl indians was allready in indo-china hot climat lands ..

[arnold40844]

I think the point is being sorely missed here by many. "Farang" is a word to describe someones ethnic origins in this case someone with white skin, in most cultures its not very polite to call or refer to someone especially when they are in the room by the color of their skin. My mother in law always refers to me as the "Farang" in conversation though.

[kirk0233]

Farang is a reference to a person or group that is so un-Thai that further distinction with regard to nationality, culture etc is not necessary or of interest. The main purpose of the word is identification of un-Thainess which makes investigation of this un-Thainess, un-Thai. It is representative of the nationalistic campaign begun in the 20th century when Siam became Thailand to maintain hegemony over Thais by strictly defining what is Thai and defining what is un-Thai and not worthwhile for purposes of social control.

[cooked]

Farang comes from the Persian word. Wikipedia: It is generally believed that the word farang originated with the Persian word farangi, meaning foreigner. This in turn comes from the word Frank via the Arabic word firinjīyah, which was used to refer to the Franks, a West Germanic tribe that became the biggest political power in Western Europe during the early Middle Ages, and from which France derives its name. Due to the fact that the Frankish Empire ruled Western Europe for centuries, the word "Frank" became deeply associated with Latins who professed the Roman Catholic faith by Eastern Europeans and Middle Easterners.

According to Rashid al-din Fazl Allâh, farang comes from the Arabic word afranj.[2]

In either case the original word was pronounced paranki (പറങ്കി) in Malayalam, parangiar in Tamil, and entered Khmer as barang and Malay as ferenggi.

RIGHT that's that sorted out. Second: what's wrong with being racist? I was 'Der Englander' in Switzerland for many years despite having Swiss citizenship and got many useful contracts because of this.

Third: my wife will say 'I see Farang in village today' or 'Teacher is Cambodia lady' or Chinese or Lao. or she says 'Swiss lady' (Thai wife of a Swiss) or German or Norwegian... The Burmese are called Burmese and they get exploited left and right, it's not so bad being a Farang. As for the OP: go and take a long walk off a short plank will you?

To hell with being politically correct, haven't you guys got anything else to do?

[I knew this would happen]

Stradavarious37, this time your intention is pretty obvious, your doubble pricing topic was a lot more subtle...... didn´t read through here, so if s.o. mentioned that already, kindly ignore me.

What will be your next self reflection thread? Can´t wait for it when some philosophers will ascuse each other of missing the topic

[colomboserb]

Farang comes from the Persian word. Wikipedia: It is generally believed that the word farang originated with the Persian word farangi, meaning foreigner. This in turn comes from the word Frank via the Arabic word firinjīyah, which was used to refer to the Franks, a West Germanic tribe that became the biggest political power in Western Europe during the early Middle Ages, and from which France derives its name. Due to the fact that the Frankish Empire ruled Western Europe for centuries, the word "Frank" became deeply associated with Latins who professed the Roman Catholic faith by Eastern Europeans and Middle Easterners.

According to Rashid al-din Fazl Allâh, farang comes from the Arabic word afranj.[2]

In either case the original word was pronounced paranki (പറങ്കി) in Malayalam, parangiar in Tamil, and entered Khmer as barang and Malay as ferenggi.

RIGHT that's that sorted out. Second: what's wrong with being racist? I was 'Der Englander' in Switzerland for many years despite having Swiss citizenship and got many useful contracts because of this.

Third: my wife will say 'I see Farang in village today' or 'Teacher is Cambodia lady' or Chinese or Lao. or she says 'Swiss lady' (Thai wife of a Swiss) or German or Norwegian... The Burmese are called Burmese and they get exploited left and right, it's not so bad being a Farang. As for the OP: go and take a long walk off a short plank will you?

To hell with being politically correct, haven't you guys got anything else to do?

Well , yes the thai people seams to be over rating that they have not been colonized....I use to say....cos they had NOTHING to take ...they had no advance culture, no advance history...NOTHING.

so why even bother to occupy when you have india, and other lands

[arnold40844]

I think people just don't like being referred to as a "something". If a shop keeper says "i'm going to go and serve this gay looking guy" or "this fat looking woman" its a label like "this farang" or "this farang dam".